As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, this implementation of this single-handed vertical solid material grinder of this utility patent application includes shell 100, handle set 200, and grinding set (not shown in FIG. 1). Shell 100 consists of inner shell 110 and outer shell 120. Between inner shell 110 and outer shell 120 is material chamber 1, which is used for holding solid particles. It is recommended that the outer shell 120 be made of transparent or semi-transparent material so that it is easier to see the amount of solid particles inside the chamber and to add more particles into the chamber 1 as needed. As shown in FIG. 2, both inner shell 100 and outer shell 120 have two sides: left and right, consisting left inner shell 111, right inner shell 112, left outer shell 121, and right outer shell 122. Between left inner shell 111 and right inner shell 112 are three positioning screw bolts 113 and screw holes 114 (as shown in FIG. 7). Left inner shell 111 and right inner shell 112 are fixed together by putting positioning screw bolts 113 into the screw holes 114, forming a chamber inside inner shell 110 to place handle set and grinding set. To prevent material particles from falling into screw holes and hampering the installation of screw bolts, Plugs 118 may be applied to each screw hole to seal the holes.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, there are matching outer rim 115 (see FIG. 14) and inner rim 116 (see FIG. 7) at where left inner shell 111 and right inner shell 112 contact. Outer rim 115 matches inner rim 116 together to seal the right and left inner shells to prevent the particles from leaking out. Similarly, matching outer rim and inner rim can also be applied to left outer shell 121 and right outer shell 122 where they contact so that left outer shell 121 and right outer shell 122 are sealed to prevent outside dirt from entering the shell. There are positioning columns 101 and positioning holes 102 between the inner shell and the outer shell, to help fitting them together. As shown in FIG. 2, on the outer shell 120, there is inlet 124 matching where the material chamber 1 is, for feeding the material particles into the material chamber. There is also a removable cover 20 on the inlet 120, which will easily cover inlet 124 after the particles are fed into the chamber to prevent outside dirt from entering the shell.
FIG. 5 is the detailed view of part I in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6a is the first tooth pattern of the teeth unit of the single-handed vertical solid material grinder.
FIG. 6b is the second tooth pattern of the teeth unit of the single-handed vertical solid material grinder.
FIG. 6c is the third tooth pattern of the teeth unit of the single-handed vertical solid material grinder.
As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, there is an axis hole 125 on the outer shell 120 next to inlet 124. On one end of the cover 20 there is a fitting axis 21 that will embed into axis hole 125 on the outer shell. There is a step extension 22 on end of the fitting axis 21 whose diameter is slightly larger than the axis hole. When the cover's fitting axis 21 is embedded into the axis hole 125, the step extension 22 on the fitting axis is larger and will prevent cover 20 from falling away from outer shell 120. At the other end of cover 20 there is a sealing outer rim 23 that covers inlet 124. Sealing rim 23 has the same shape as inlet 124 so that cover 20 can cover inlet 124 completely. At the outside of sealing rim 23 there can also be step extension 25 whose size is slightly larger than the inlet 124 so that after the sealing rim 23 is zipped into the inlet 124 it can clutch into the inlet and stay in the position. It is also possible to add an extension handle 24 on cover 20 to the side of the sealing rim 23. The extension handle 24 is on the outside of the outer shell 120. Pulling the extension handle 24 out of shell will pull the cover 20 and separate the sealing rim 23 which is embedded in the inlet 124 to move away from the inlet. Then the particles can be fed into the material chamber 1 from the inlet 124. At this time the fitting axis 21 will not fall apart from the axis hole 125. So when the inlet 124 is open, the cover 20 will not be broken away from outer shell 120. This is very convenient.
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the handle set 200 includes mounted handle 210 and motion handle 220. The lower part of the mounted handle 210 and motion handle 220 are both inside the shell and the upper part of both stretch out of the shell. It is recommended that the mounted handle 210 and motion handle 220 be positioned in the central plane of the shell 100. The mounted handle 210 and motion handle 220 are positioned opposing each other. On the outer side of both handles there is a sliding resistant layer 201, i.e., the motion handle has a sliding resistant layer 201 on the side that is away from the mounted handle, and the mounted handle has a sliding resistant layer 201 on the side that is away from the motion handle. It is recommended that the sliding resistant layer 201 be made from rubber and has the same contour as the handles so that it will fit into the notches on the sides of handles 210 and 220 to make sure the contour of the handles is smooth yet sliding resistant. Thus the user will not slide when holding the handles. The lower part of the mounted handle is fixed into the fixing groove 211 inside the inner shell, thus it is not going to move away from the shell.
As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 7, and 10, there is a driving axis 3 at the lower end of motion handle 220. There can be an axis hole 222 at the lower end of motion handle 220 to allow the driving axis 3 to pass through this axis hole 222, so that the motion handle can spin along this driving axis inside the shell. Thus, because the spinning center (i.e. the driving axis 3) is placed inside the shell, the arm of the motion handle where the force is applied will be longer, reducing the actual force been applied.
Between motion handle 220 and inner shell 110 there is an elastic repositioning unit. This unit will push the motion handle away from the mounted handle. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the elastic repositioning unit selected in this implementation is a twisted spring 40. One end of the twisted spring (not shown in the figure) is fixed to the lower end of the motion handle 220, the other end 42 of the twisted spring is fixed to the inner shell 110. It is recommended that that center ring 43 of the spring be placed on the driving axis 3 so that it is easier to place the twisted spring 40 inside the chamber.
When the handles are held and pulled towards each other, the upper part of motion handle 220 moves towards the mounted handle, pulling the lower end of the motion handle 220 to rotate along driving axis 3. The twisted spring 40 is then compressed. When the handle set is loosened and less force is applied, twisted spring 40 will move back, pushing the lower end of the motion handle to move back too. The upper part of the motion handle 220 will also move away from mounted handle 210. Thus by grabbing and loosing the handle set using one hand, the lower end of the motion handle 220 will move back and forth along the driving axis inside the shell.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 10, the grinding set includes sector unit 310 and grinding unit 320. The sector unit includes a sector cylinder 311. On the sector cylinder 311 there are multiple parallel teeth 312. The sector unit has a spinning axis 313. This spinning axis 313 is at the rotation center of the sector cylinder 311 of the sector unit and is vertical to the plane of the motion handle 220 and mounted handle 210. Thus, the sector unit 310 can spin along the spinning axis 313 in the same plane as the motion handle 220 and mounted handle 210. This spinning axis 313 can be placed the same way as the driving axis that is at the lower end of the motion handle so that the sector unit 310 can spin inside the shell. It is recommended that that the teeth 312 on the sector cylinder 311 placed on a tooth unit 314, and then install the tooth unit 314 on the sector cylinder 311. This tooth unit 314 has the same curve as the sector cylinder 311. Its side with the teeth 312 faces the outside of the sector cylinder 311, i.e., away from the spinning center of the sector cylinder. Thus tooth unit 314 can be made from wear resistant substances, such as cast iron. The sector unit 310 can be made from cheap substances such as plastic. Thus the teeth 312 have a great grinding performance while it is not needed for the whole sector unit been made from wear resistant substances, reducing the cost. It is also possible to choose different substances of tooth unit 314 based on the material that is to be grinded. When grinding salt particles, tooth unit 314 made of ceramic can be used to avoid the erosion of the salt to the metal, while tooth unit 314 made of metal can be used when grinding pepper particles.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 10, there is also a driving set between the motion handle 220 and sector unit 310 so that the motion handle 220 can drive the sector unit 310 swing back and forth along its spinning axis when the motion handle 220 swings bank and forth along the driving axis inside the shell. The driving set can be the slot/shaft combination between the lower part of the motion handle and the sector unit 310. Specifically, a slot 51 can be placed at the lower end of motion handle 220. The sector unit 310 can be placed into this slot 51 so that the sector cylinder 311 and the spinning axis 313 of the sector unit 310 are placed on the two sides of the motion handle 220. In the sector unit 310, inside the handle slot 51 there is an arc slot 52. At the lower part of the motion handle, there is a shaft cap 54 that matches into the arc slot 52 of the sector unit. This shaft cap 54 goes through the arc slot 52 on the sector unit to connect the lower part of the motion handle 220 and the sector unit 310. This shaft cap 54 fits into the lower part of the motion handle 220 through the shaft 53 and can move inside the arc slot 52. When the motion handle 220 spin move the driving axis inside the shell, the shaft cap 54 that is fixed into the lower part of the motion handle 220 glides inside the arc slot 52 of the sector unit, thus make the sector unit 310 move against the motion handle 220. So the sector unit 310 will swing along the spinning axis 313 inside the shell. Thus, when the user drives the handle set using one hand to make the motion handle 200 moving back and forth inside the shell, the sector unit 310 is also forced to swing back and forth along the spinning axis 313 by the driving set.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the grinding unit 320 is mounted inside the inner shell 110, between the material chamber 1 and the sector surface 311. There is at least one fixed teeth 321 on the grinding unit 320. Similarly, all the fixed teeth 311 can be placed onto a fixed tooth unit 322. The fixed tooth unit 322 will then be embedded onto the grinding unit to make sure to keep both the wear resistance and the low cost of the unit. Inside the inner shell there is a throat 106 on top of the grinding unit 320 connecting the material chamber 1 to the fixed teeth 321. The grinding unit 320 is close to the sector cylinder 311 and is to the lower outer side of the sector surface. Because the shape of the sector cylinder 311 on the center plane of the shell is a sector, when the sector surface 311 of the sector unit moves along the spinning axis 313, the sector surface 311 keeps on the arc of its rim. Thus the distance between the sector surface 311 and the fixed teeth 321 will not change. The distance between the fixed teeth 321 of the grinding unit and the parallel teeth 312 of the tooth unit should be adjusted appropriately. It is better to be smaller than the size of the feeding particles, and the fixed teeth 321 of the grinding unit should face the parallel teeth 312 but should not touch them. Therefore, when the particles fall from material chamber 1 to the fixed teeth 321 through the throat 106, they will not slide out through the aperture between the fixed teeth 321 of the grinding unit and the parallel teeth 312. And when the parallel teeth 312 move downward following the sector cylinder 311, fixed teeth 321 and the parallel teeth 312 will hold the particles between the teeth and smash them into powder. Thus the grinding effect is achieved.
It is recommended that the teeth 312 lean towards the grinding unit 320 so that it is easier to smash the particles. The shape of teeth 312 can be axial, i.e., column teeth, as shown in FIG. 6a. Or it can form an angle with the central axis of the gear, i.e., beveled teeth, as shown in FIG. 6b. It is recommended that the teeth is placed crossed beveled, as shown in FIG. 6c. This way the particles falling into the tooth aperture of teeth 312 will slide into the center of the tooth unit 314 through the tooth aperture. When grinding, teeth 312 will produce forces from two different sides on the particles so that it is more stable instead of moving around. The fixed teeth 321 can be rectangle in a sectional view. But it is recommended to be arc in sectional view, i.e., each tooth is an arc as shown in FIG. 15 so that when the teeth unit 314 moves, teeth 312 will push the particles to the center of the fixed teeth 321, improving the efficiency of grinding.
As shown in FIGS. 5, 7, and 9, the said grinding unit 320 is placed in a grinding unit slot 109 inside the inner shell 110. The slot 131 faces sector surface 311. There is also a position adjusting screw bolt 108 on the inner shell. The screw bolt 108 matches into the grinding unit 320. Its end is fixed into the inner shell 110 and stretches outside the outer shell 120. Specifically, the adjusting screw bolt can include bolt 61 and adjustment handle 62, fitting the end of the screw bolt 61 into the adjustment handle 62. There is a round nut 63 on the adjustment handle 62 that has the same axis as bolt 61. The nut 63 works together with inner shell 110 so that the adjustment handle 62 is fixed on the shell and can only move on the axial direction. There can be an outstretching handle 64 at the outside end of the adjustment handle 62, which can be a plane or any other shapes that is easy to adjust manually. When turning the adjustment handle 62, the adjustment handle 62 drives the bolt to move against the grinding unit so that its axial position versus the grinding unit changes. The distance between the grinding unit 320 and the end of adjustment bolt 108 changes, and the grinding unit 320 will slide in the grinding unit slot 109. Thus the distance between the grinding unit 320 and the sector surface 311 changes, too, adjusting the distance between the fixing teeth 321 and parallel teeth 312, and adjusting the size of the finished particles. As shown in FIG. 16, grinding unit 320 can be formed by left part 323 and right part 324. Inside the grinding unit 320 there is a screw nut 325. When the two parts 323 and 324 of the grinding unit 320 are put together, the end of the fixed tooth unit 322 will be fixed inside the grinding unit, and the fixed teeth 321 on the fixed tooth unit 322 will show up on the outside the grinding unit 320. Thus it is very easy to change to different types of fixed teeth to handle different materials. For example, fixed teeth using ceramic material can be used to grind salt, while fixed teeth using metal can be used to grind pepper. Screw bolt 61 can stretch into the inside of grinding unit 320 to match with the screw hole in the screw nut 325. Rotating the adjustment handle 62 will drive the bolt 61 to rotate, thus forcing the grinding unit 320 to move inside the grinding unit slot 109, and changing the distance between the fixed teeth 321 and the parallel teeth 312.
Inside the shell 100, under the aperture between the fixed teeth 321 and the parallel teeth 312 there is an outlet 102. Thus the particles grinded by the fixed teeth 321 and the parallel teeth 312 can be discharged out of shell from the outlet 102. As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, a particle removing column 103 can be set up inside the shell. This particle removing column 103 is under the sector cylinder. On its side facing the sector surface there is a particle removing surface 104. This particle removing surface 104 matches the sector surface 311 so that the particle removing surface 104 is closely adjacent to the outside of the sector surface 311 and has the same axis as the sector surface 311. Thus particle removing surface 104 is parallel to the sector surface 311 and the distance between particle removing surface 104 and the sector surface 311 is small enough, may even be directly contacted with each other. Thus the particles attaching to sector surface 311 or stuck in the parallel teeth 312 will be removed and fall directly into the outlet 102, thus preventing the particles sticking to the sector surface 311 from accumulating in the space under the sector unit and clogging the sector unit and stopping it from moving. There can be multiple particle removing columns. Between these particle removing columns 103 there can be aperture 105 that leads to the outlet 102. Thus the particles removed from the particle removing column 103 will fall into outlet 102 through the aperture 105, preventing them from accumulating in the shell 110 and clogging the sector cylinder 311.
As shown in FIGS. 2, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 14, there is a slot 130 at the outlet 102 in the shell. The slot 130 has a slot cover 140 that can cover outlet 102. Slot cover 140 can glide in the slot 130 to open or close outlet 102. The slot cover 140 can be L shape, including the vertical cover 142 and horizontal cover 141. Slot 130 can also be L shape, including a horizontal slot 131 at the outlet 102 at the bottom of the shell and the vertical slot 132 on the inner surface of the inner shell. The horizontal cover 141 can glide in the horizontal slot 131 and cover the outlet 102 that is at the bottom of the shell. The vertical cover 142 can glide in the vertical slot 132 along the inner shell surface. There is a vertical slot 143 on the vertical cover 142 of the slot cover (see FIG. 13). There is also a driving shaft 223 at the side of the sector unit 310 (see FIG. 10). This shaft 223 cooperates with the vertical slot 143 so that it can slide inside the vertical slot 143. When the upper part of the motion handle 220 moves back and forth, the shaft 223 on the side of the sector unit 310 will also move back and forth along the spinning axis. The movement of the this shaft 223 can be decoupled into the vertical movement along the vertical slot 143 and the horizontal movement that is at the right angle to the vertical slot 143. Thus the horizontal movement of shaft 223 will drive the vertical cover 142 of the slot cover to slide back and forth in the vertical slot 132. The horizontal cover 141 that is in the horizontal slot 131 will then open or cover outlet 102. It is recommended that the outlet 102 to be positioned on the end of the slot 130 that is close to the mounted handle 210. Thus when the motion handle 220 moves towards the mounted handle 210, the horizontal movement of shaft 223 is moving away from the mounted handle 210. The slot cover 140 will open up outlet 102 and make the finished particles discharging through the outlet 102 from the inner shell 110. When the motion handle 220 is back to the original position by the force of twisted spring 40, the slot cover 140 will cover the outlet 102. Thus when the machine is not grinding, the outside dirt will not get into the inside of the side, avoiding contamination.
In this implementation example, the slot 130 consists of the slot 133 on the inner shell and the slot disc 150. To be specific, the slot disc 150 has a vertical disc 151 and a horizontal disc 152. Slot 133 was set on the corresponding positions of the inner shell's inner surface and bottom. The vertical disc 151 of the slot disc 150 is embedded in the slot 133. There are matching positioning holes 225 and positioning columns 226 between the slot 133 and the inner surface of the inner shell (see FIG. 12) to help positioning the slot. There is a depressed hole 153 in the slot 133. The vertical disc 151 of the slot disc covers the depressed hole to form a vertical slot 132 of the slot, so that the vertical cover 142 of the slot cover can slide in it. The horizontal disc 152 of the slot disc and the bottom of the inner shell forms the horizontal slot 131 of the slot, so that the horizontal cover 141 of the slot cover can slide in it.
There is a sector sliding slot 135 on the slot disc 150 that has the same center of sector cylinder 311. When the shaft 223 moves back and forth, it can slide in this sector sliding slot 135. Shaft 223 goes through this sector sliding slot 135 to match with the vertical slot 143 of the slot cover on the inner surface of the shell, thus driving the cover 140 moving.
Since shaft 223 drives vertical cover 142, while the horizontal cover 141 is in the slot 130, when shaft 223 is moving the horizontal cover 141, its force is applied through the distance between the shaft 223 and the horizontal slot 131. The slot cover 141 is prone to get stuck in the horizontal slot 131. It is recommended that a horizontal slot 136 is added to the depressed hole 153 of the slot 133 that is parallel to the horizontal slot 131. Correspondently, a horizontal bulge 144 can be introduced on the side facing the inner surface of the inner shell of the vertical cover 142 of the slot cover to match the horizontal sliding slot 146. Thus the horizontal bulge can slide inside horizontal slot 131. Thus both vertical slot 143 and horizontal bulge 144 are on the vertical cover 142. The force of the shaft 223 then is applied between the shaft 223 and the horizontal slot 136, preventing the slot cover be stuck in the slot 130. In this implementation example, the shaft is the shaft 53 that is on the lower end of the motion handle and is used to fix shaft cap 54, i.e., the cap 54 at the lower end of the motion handle stretches out to the vertical slot 143 of the slot cover.
As shown in FIG. 2, a collection box 5 can be placed at the bottom of the outer shell 120. This collection box 5 is placed under the outlet 102 and matches into the bottom of the outer shell 120. So the collection box 5 can be installed at the bottom of the outer shell using screw or buckle. The finished particles discharged from the outlet 102 can be collected in the collection box 5. When enough particles are processed, the user can stop operating the handle set and take the collection box out of the outer shell and use the finished product.
As shown in FIG. 17, there is another implementation example of the single-handed vertical solid material grinder of this utility patent application. The difference between this one and the one that illustrated above is the driving mechanism of the motion handle and the sector unit. To be specific, the spinning axis 313 of the sector unit is the same as the driving axis 3 of the motion handle, and is at the rotation center of the sector cylinder 311. By mounting the sector unit 310 under the motion handle 220 through the driving set, the sector unit 310 is not moving relative to the motion handle 220. The sector unit 310 and the motion handle 220 is a whole piece. Therefore, when the motion handle 220 move towards or away from the mounted handle in the plane of the handle set, the sector cylinder 311 of the sector unit will move along its axis (the spinning axis 313 and driving axis 3) back and forth. The teeth on the sector cylinder will sweep over the fixed teeth on the grinding unit 320. The particles will also get grinded this way to achieve the grinding result. Besides, the shaft that stretches into the vertical slot of the slot cover can also be set at the side of the sector unit.
The above mentioned examples simply list several possible implementations of this utility patent application. The description here is very detailed and specific. However, it does not mean that this is the limitation of the utility patent application. Instead, most normal technical people in this field can improve the design based on the basic idea of this patent, such as changing the inlet shape to diamond shape. These changes are all under the protection of this utility patent application.